In the Dark
by Fallen Angel Of The Forgotten
Summary: It wasn't until the darkness was lifted that he realized just how much he'd missed the light. TYL!Kyouya-centric, hints of 1827 relationship.


**A.N. – **For Kyouya's birthday (which I didn't know about ). I almost didn't do this because of everything else I had going on, but I did it for Tsuna's so I might as well do it for Hibari's. In any case, happy birthday Kyouya!

Set after TYL Tsuna's death, but before the arrival of TYE Tsuna. Slightly based on this picture: http: / www. zerochan. net/ 1093640 (remove the spaces).

**Summary – **It wasn't until the darkness was lifted that he realized just how much he'd missed the light. TYL!Kyouya-centric, hints of 1827 relationship.

In the Dark

The future had changed a lot of things for Hibari.

Most of those are the people he has come to associate himself with – people he once hated with a vengeance. Trouble-makers he would once have called them. Once, when he was younger, and not nearly so weary from all of this strife.

And back then, he was right; they were trouble-makers. Trouble-makers and truth-tellers and brave children being forced to take up a task that was not theirs to bear. A problem left behind by the last generation, now put upon their small shoulders for bearing.

But they've all grown up since then, Hibari himself included, and now they are no longer trouble-makers. They are all weary adults, their souls tired and full of the pain of loss. Tsunayoshi's death has hurt everyone deeply, even himself, for all he calls himself the drifting cloud. The sky has fallen silent in death, and the sun no longer shines.

Kyouya can't remember the last time he's seen the sun truly shine. The sun rises and falls, but it doesn't shine, not like it used to. He remembers that once upon a time, he sat upon this very roof with a little yellow bird on his finger, his coat over his shoulders, and basked in the light offered up by the sun's rays. And he remembers being content. Not happy, but not tired either. Not weary, ready to simply lie down and _sleep, _and never wake up. His soul wants to die, even though his body is only that of a twenty-six year old.

He moves closer, grasping the fence, the metal cold in the darkness of the night. He finds his eyes drawn upward, as they always are nowadays. Above there is nothing – no twinkling stars, no floating clouds, no nothing. Their sky is truly gone.

He steps back and peers down at the grounds, memory pulsing. He sees the after-images, long dead, of him as he chases around those herbivores, the silver-headed bomber screaming at him some obscenity considering their beloved 'Tenth' while that baseball idiot laughs and the sky screams and pleads and runs around, dodging Hibari's tonfas and begging not to be hit because he was only absent because of Reborn.

Reborn. Another name and face, gone forever. Killed by his own kind, he was not given dignity in death. They stripped him of the dignity he once wore like a coat, forced him down onto his knees and made him bow his head like a servant before a king.

One by one, all the ants fell before the eagle, none able to stand up to the powerful talons and razor-sharp beak the bird had equipped. Byakuran had stopped their hopes, their dreams in their tracks, and was now simply waiting before making the final blow.

But there was one, Hibari knew. His eyes drifted shut, and an old memory surfaced. Just one person capable of stopping this madness. Capable of lifting the burden of weariness from his Guardian's backs and bearing it as his own without problem. If Fate truly felt the Vongola were deserving, she and Shoichi Irie would deliver that someone to the base. And that boy would survive long enough for Hibari to see him in the future, grown up and smiling. Long enough for him to see their sky again.

Behind his closed eyes, Hibari felt the warmth of light shine. He opened his eyes and cherry blossom petals brushed against him, flying towards him from the few trees that remained, carried on the wind. The sun rose once more, this time bearing a light that Hibari recalled from before. The former prefect felt his heart rate pick up and his lips part.

Could it be…?

"_Midori tanabiku Namimori no~"_

Kyouya snatched at the phone on his hip and flipped it open, putting it to his ear. "Yes?"

Kusakabe's voice came out of the other end, hurried and excited. _"I apologize for disturbing you at such a late hour sir, but the Ten-Years-Earlier Reborn has just appeared. Mister Irie said—"_

"I know what he said." Kyouya felt his heart rate speed up even more, and something like a smile curved his face. "Prepare their accomidations. I will be there shortly. Tell Takeshi as well."

"_Yes sir." _And with that he hung up, Kyouya keeping the phone in place a bit longer before flipping it shut and snapping it back into place.

The weariness still ate at him, but the knowledge that all this would soon be over – that their sky – _his _Sky – would soon be back kept him from falling. He would keep standing until his younger self decided to show up. And then he'd rest. Kyouya turned and began to drift from Namimori once more, leaping over the gate and heading back to the shrine, feeling his old determination rear its head.

He would rest, but only after he'd greeted his younger Sky properly, and trained him. Only then.


End file.
